The Battle Begins...
Harry gasps in horror as he stares at the woman’s talon-tipped finger pressing against the hideous Mark, and in the next split-second his scar bursts open, pain flood his head and with every beat of his heart ice shoots out in waves, filling his veins —
His head snaps up and he stares out into the dark night, barely aware of the cold sea breeze slapping his face as triumph soars in his heart; they have the boy!
A loud bang tears Harry out of Voldemort’s mind and he heaves a heavy breath, staring around wildly, he sees Alecto Carrow lying sprawled on the floor next to him, out cold —
”I’ve never stunned anyone except in our DA lessons”, the serene voice of Luna Lovegood sounds from somwhere to his left where she is still hidden beneath his Invisibility Cloak. ”It was a lot noisier than I’d have thought it would be…”
”Luna”, Harry gasps in relief, and then, hearing the rumbling of footsteps from overhead he jumps to his feet hurriedly. ”Luna! Where are you? I need to get back under the Cloak —!”
Her feet appear disembodied in front of him and he shoots his hand out and dives in under the hem of the Cloak and disappearing from view just as the Common Room fills with wary Ravenclaw students. They gather around the stunned figure of Alecto Carrow and whisper urgently amongst themselves.
”I think she might be dead!” a fourth-year exclaim in obvious delight.
Harry is vaguely aware of Voldemort continuing towards the underground lake to check on the locket before heading towards Hogwarts, but that’s a small comfort, Harry thinks, it will take him next to no time to discover the locket to be missing and then he will be here —
A sudden rap on the door startles them all, and the voice of the eagle knocker speaks: ”Where do vanished objects go?”
”I dunno, do I?” snarls a voice that Harry recognises as the Carrow brother, Amycus, and his heart skips a beat. ”Alecto? Alecto? Are you there? Have you got him? Open the door!”
The Ravenclaws are all staring at each other in panic, their whispers more urgent now. A series of loud bangs as though someone is firing a gun towards the unhelpful door rings out in the hush suddenly, making them all jump in fright.
”ALECTO! If he comes here and we haven’t got Potter — d’you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!” Amycus bellows from the other side of the door, as it rattles under the weight of his pushes, but it still refuses to allow him entry.
”May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?” the all-too-familiar voice of Minerva McGonagall joins his on the other side of the door and Harry feels a surge of hope in his belly.
”Trying — to get — through this damned — door!” Amycus shouts. ”Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it, now!”
”But isn’t your sister in there?” Professor McGonagall asks swiftly. ”Didn’t Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you? Then you needn’t wake up the entire castle…”
”She isn’t answering, you old besom!” Amycus snarls. ”You open it! Do it, now!”
”Certainly, if you wish it”, McGonagall says with a distinctly icy tone and following a swift rap on the door and the eagle’s question of where vanished objects go, she answers, ”Into non-being, which is to say, everything.”
”Nicely phrased”, the eagle knocker says and the door swings open.
Amycus Carrow hurtles over the threshold and storms into the Common Room, sending the remaining Ravenclaws scattering as he howls in rage at the sight of his sister’s body on the floor. He pulls his wand and looks around wildly, barely aware of McGonagall joining him. Harry has never been so happy to see his Head of House.
”What have they done, the little whelps!” Amycus screams. ”I’ll Cruciate the lot of ’em ’til they tell me who did it! And what’s the Dark Lord going to say? We haven’t got ’im! The poisonous little pests, they’ve gone and killed her —!”
”She isn’t dead”, McGonagall says haughtily and glares at him. ”She’s merely stunned, she will be fine.”
”NO SHE BLOODY WELL WON’T!” Amycus hollers. ”Not once the Dark Lord gets his hands on her! She’s gone and sent for him, hasn’t she! I felt me Mark burn when she did it, and now he thinks we’ve got Potter!”
”’Got Potter’?” McGonagall says sharply. ”What do you mean?”
”He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!” he wails, fisting great lumps of hair from his already balding head as he paces the floor in apparant anguish, staring between his sister’s body and the dark windows, as if expecting Voldemort to soar through them at any moment.
”Why would Harry Potter try and get into Ravenclaw Tower? Potter belongs in my house!” McGonagall says incredulously, and Harry can detect a hint of pride under her haughty tone and his chest swells with affection for the old witch.
”We was told he might, I dunno do I?” Amycus roars, then speaking urgently, almost as if talking to himself, ”We can push it off on the kids, yeah, the ones up there, we’ll say they ambushed her and made her press the Mark, yeah, yeah, that’s why he got a false alarm, because of the kids — let them take the punishment — couple of kids more or less, what’s the difference…”
”Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice”, McGonagall says coldly, her hazel eyes flashing dangerously behind her square spectacles even as the blood drains from her face. ”A difference, in short, that your sister and yourself seem unable to appreciate, but let me make one thing crystal clear — you are not going to endanger a single student of this school to save your own useless hide — I shall not permit it!”
Amycus whirls around with another feral growl and steps so close to her that she has to jerk her head back to prevent his nose from knocking into her forehead, but despite this, she does not take a step back but stays glaring defiantly at him.
”Ot is not a case of what you’ll permit, Minerva McGonagall”, he snarls in her face. ”Your time is over. It’s us what’s in charge now, and you’ll back me up or pay the price…”
MacGonagall merely glares back, and he spits into her face — before Harry knows what he’s doing, he’s wrenched the Cloak off him and levelled his wand on the Death Eater.
”You shouldn’t have done that”, he says grimly and when Amycus whirls around to face him, he shouts ”Crucio!”
The Death Eater is lifted off his feet by the force of the hex, his limbs twitching and his back arching as he howls in pain, then he smashes into a bookcase and crumbles unconsciously on the floor.
”Potter”, McGonagall whispers, clutching her heart through her tartan dressing gown. ”Potter — you’re here — you — what —? How —?”
She seems to draw herself up to her full height and with some effort she pulls herself together, ”Potter, that was extremely foolish!”
”He spat at you”, Harry says.
”Potter, I — that was very, very gallant of you — but don’t you realise —?”
”Yeah, I do”, he assures her. ”Professor, Voldemort’s on his way.”
”Oh, are we allowed to say his name now?” Luna speaks up suddenly, appearing out of thin air as she pulls the Invisibility Cloak off.
This sudden appearance of yet another outlawed student seems to be too much for Professor McGonagall who staggers back and falls into a nearby armchair, staring between the two of them in wonder.
”Yeah, I don’t think it makes much difference now”, Harry tells Luna calmly. ”He already knows I’m here and he’s on his way…”
At the back of his mind, he’s aware of Voldemort sailing across the underground lake towards the little island with the stone basin… not long now, he thinks.
”You must flee!” McGonagall tells him. ”Now, Potter, while you still can —”
”I can’t. There’s something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw might be?”
”The d- diadem of — Potter! — what —!”
”Professor!” Harry cuts her off. ”I have to find it. Dumbledore left me a job to do, it’s very important.”
”D- Dumbledore — left you a — ” McGonagall whispers in horror, then with a deep breath she pulls herself up again and glancing over at Amycus who seems to be coming to with a groan, she points her wand at him, ”Imperio.”
Harry watches as McGonagall guides Amycus over to where his sister is still knocked out. He grabs her wand and delivers it to McGonagall along with his own, before he goes back to lie next to his sister on the floor. With another wave of her wand, McGonagall binds the their bodies with a shimmering, silvery rope.
She then turns to Harry with an air of determination, ”If what you’re telling me is true, Potter, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is really on his way to Hogwarts, then we have to secure the school — while you look for this — this diadem —!”
”Is that possible?” he asks, hardly daring to get excited but feeling a surge of hope anyway.
”I think so”, McGonagall says drily, raising one eyebrow delicately. ”We teachers are rather good at magic, you know. I am sure we will be able to hold him off for a while if we all put out best efforts into it. Of course, something will have to be done about Professor Snape —”
Harry’s heart skips a beat, ”N-No —”
”— and if Hogwarts is about to enter into a stage of siege, with the Dark Lord at the gates, it would be advisable to to take as many students out of the way as possible, but with the Floo Network under observation and Apparition impossible within the grounds, I don’t know —”
”There’s another way”, Harry says quickly. ”If you go to the Room of Requirement, you’ll find Neville and the others, they’ll show you how to get to the Hog’s Head from there, but listen, Professor, about Snape —”
”Potter, we are talking about hundreds of student—”, McGonagall says.
”Yeah, I know, but if Voldemort and the Death Eaters are concentrating on the school boundaries they won’t be interested in anyone Disapparating from inside the Hog’s Head, will they?”
”I suppose you have a point there”, McGonagall mutters. ”Well, let’s go. We need to alert the other Heads of House — you better get back under your Invisibility Cloak, both of you.”
She waves her wand and casts a silent charm; three silvery cats bursts out of the tip of the wand with spectacle markings around their eyes, similar to the ones around McGonagall’s own while in her animagus form, and the three of them sprint off in different directions. McGonagall strides over to the door and sends Harry and Luna an impatient glare over her shoulder as she reaches it. They hurry to slip under the Cloak again and follow her out of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
They have to jog to keep up with the professor’s pace as she strides down the corridor and then descends the nearest staircase. Two floors down, they’re joined by another set of footsteps. Harry hears them first, and is just about to get out the Marauder’s Map when Professor McGonagall stops abruptly and raises her wand, ”Who’s there?”
”It is I”, a low voice speaks from the shadows and Harry’s heart jolts.
Severus Snape steps into the dim light of the corridor from behind a suit of armour. He’s got his wand raised just like McGonagall, and the two of them move into place in front of each other, as though getting ready for a duel, and Harry’s heart sinks again — he never did get a chance to tell McGonagall about Snape —
For a fleeting moment, Harry is struck by the elegant way Severus’ robes hang off his lithe figure, mirrored by the curtains of black hair that frame his pale face. His face is impassive and his eyes shuttered, his lips pressed thin, but Harry can still recall their softness as they pressed against his and despite the seriousness of the situation, he feels a flutter in his belly…
”Where are the Carrows?” Severus asks McGonagall quietly.
”Whereever you told them to be, I expect, Severus”, she replies curtly.
Severus takes another step closer to her, but his eyes flit away from her face and scans the air around her as if he knows Harry is there, hidden beneath his Cloak.
”I was under the impression”, he speaks quietly. ”that Alecto had apprehended an intruder…”
”Really? And what gave you that impression?” McGonagall says haughtily, and when Severus makes an involuntarily flexing movement with his left arm, she smiles bitterly. ”Oh, of course. I forgot. You Death Eaters have your own means of communicating, haven’t you?”
Severus merely glances at her face, then continues staring into seemingly empty space next to her, twice meeting Harry’s eyes accidentally, althought unaware of it himself.
”I did not know it was your night to patrol the corridors, Minerva”, he says sleekly.
”I thought I heard a disturbance.”
”Really? But all seems calm”, Severus counters and finally looks her in the eyes. ”Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist —”
Professor McGonagall moves faster than Harry could have ever believed, and his interjecting protest dies on the tip of his tongue as she makes a slashing wand movement through the air and he gasps in fright, certain that Severus will crumble to the ground unconscious before Harry has had the chance to explain to his Head of House, but Severus moves just as quickly as McGonagall and his Shield Charm stops whatever curse she sent at him with such force that it knocks her back slightly.
Harry opens his mouth to speak again, but McGonagall has waved her wand again and he can only stare in awe-struck horror as a nearby torch leaps from its place on the wall and creates a ring of fire that hurtles through the air like a lasso towards Severus —
He makes an elborate gesture with his own wand and the ring of fire turns into a great, black serpent that lunges for McGonagall, who waves her wand and turns it into a smoke ring that turns in the air and solidifies and turns into a dozen daggers that fly towards Severus, who makes the suit of armour come to life and jump in front of him, shielding him from the daggers…
”Minerva!” a squeaky voice rings out in the silence after the last dagger has embedded itself in the suit of armour’s chest with a CLANG and Harry wheels around to see Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout come running down the corridor in their nightclothes, followed by a panting Professor Slughorn.
”No!” Professor Flitwick squeals and raises his wand. ”You’ll do no more murders at Hogwarts!”
Harry turns around and stares in mute horror as the suit of armour rounds on Severus and proceeds to crush him with its heavy, iron arms. Severus struggles free and bolts into a nearby classroom, the other professors thundering after him with their wands held aloft.
”Luna, come on —!” Harry gasps hurriedly and urges her to follow him as he sprints after them.
”Coward! COWARD!” they hear McGonagall yell and Harry’s stomach churns unpleasantly.
He more or less drags Luna inside the classroom, but when he sees McGonagall staring out an open window he completely forgets about staying hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak and tears it off and runs over to her. Ignoring the gasps from the other professors, he crashes into the window sill and stares down at the ground desperately, silently begging whatever powers there are out there, in the Universe, if any, to let Severus be okay —
”He jumped!” McGonagall says incredulously.
”No!” Harry exclaims breathessly. ”You mean he’s — he’s — no, he’s not dead, he’s can’t be dead —”
”Of course not!” she says bitterly. ”He still had his wand, unlike Dumbledore… and he seems to have picked up a few tricks from his master…”
With a jolt, Harry wrenches his gaze from the ground beneath the window and stares out into the darkness. He thinks he can see the faint outline of a dark figure soaring through the air, robes billowing in its wake, and relief seeps into his chest — but it’s short-lived when he thinks of where Severus is heading… Voldemort, he thinks darkly. And knowing how furious the Dark Lord is already, having been struggling against the seraing pain in his scar for the past hour, Harry can only guess what kind of welcome Severus will get once he reaches him…
His thoughts are interrupted by the heavy footfalls and panting breaths of Professor Slughorn as he finally joins them in the classroom.
”Harry! My dear boy — what a surprise! — Minerva, do please explain… Severus… what…?”
”Our Headmaster is taking a short break”, McGonagall says curtly, and Harry decides there’s no point in trying to explain now — it’s already too late. ”He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming; we must barricade the school.”
The other professors gasp in terror, and then look to Harry for some sort of confirmation. He simply nods, then stands back as they get organised. Professor Sprout suggests securing the castle and then assembling all the students in the Great Hall — and if those of age wish to stay and fight, they ought to be allowed to — Professor McGonagall agrees.
”I can work from here”, Professor Flitwick says and starts casting complex protective spells on the windows.
Harry approaches him cautiously, ”Professor Flitwick? Sorry to interrupt, but have you got any idea where the diadem of Ravenclaw might be? It’s important…”
”—Protego horribilis — the diadem of Ravenclaw? I hardly think that would be much use in this situation, Potter!”
”But have you ever seen it?”
”Seen it? Nobody in living memory has seen it, boy!”
Harry feels a pang of disappointment and panic; what, then, was the Horcrux hidden at Hogwarts?
”We shall meet you and the Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!” McGonagall says and beckons for Harry and Luna to follow her out of the classroom.
”My word”, Slughorn says, wringing his hands nervously. ”What a to-do! I’m not at all sure about this, Minerva. I mean, he is bound to find a way in isn’t he? And anyone who has tried to stop him — I mean to say — ”
”I shall expect you and the students of Slytherin House in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, Horace”, McGonagall says. ”If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. However, if you intend to try and sabotage our resistance in any way, or take up arms against us, then know this: we will duel to kill…”
”Minerva!” he says aghast.
”The time has come for Slytherin House to decide where its’ loyalties lie”, McGonagall says. ”Now go and wake your students, Horace…”
Harry doesn’t stay to watch Slughorn splutter, but follows McGonagall as she strides down the corridor with her wand raised, casting protective spells as sh goes.
”Piertotum! — oh, for heaven’s sake, Filch, not now —” she says exasperated as the caretaker comes hobbling round the corner, wheezing about students being out of bed. ”They’re supposed to be out of bed, you idiot! Now go and do something constructive, will you? Go find Peeves!”
”P-Peeves?” Filch stammers incredulously.
”Yes, Peeves, you fool, Peeves! Haven’t you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him at once!”
Filch glares in disgust, but hobbles away obediantly, muttering under his breath. McGonagall sniffs and then raises her wand again, ”And now — piertum locomotor!”
Suddenly, every single suit of armour standing along the corridor springs to life, brandishing their axes and flails. Echoing crashes from the floor above and below tells Harry that all the suits of armour in the castle has been similarly awoken.
”Hogwarts is threatened!” McGonagall cries. ”Man the boundaries! Protect us! Do your duty to our school!”
Harry sees statues and suits of armour make their way down a nearby staircase.
”Now, Potter”, McGonagall says swiftly. ”You and Miss Lovegood had better collect your friends and direct them to the Great Hall — I shall fetch the rest of the Gryffindors.”
When they return to the Room of Requirement, Harry stumbles back in shock; the room is packed. He stares wildly at all the new faces: Kingsley and Lupin stand up as soon as they lay eyes on him, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet stop talking amongst themselves and turn to look at him excitedly, Bill and Fleur as well as Mr and Mrs Weasley make their way through the crowd to hug him.
”Harry, what’s happening?” Lupin says seriously as Mrs Weasley is crushing him in her arms.
”Voldemort’s on the way here”, Harry gasps and gingerly squirms out of her bear hug. ”They’re barricading the school — but how did you know?”
”We sent the message to the rest of Dumbledore’s Army”, Fred tells him. ”You couldn’t expect everyone to to miss all he fun, Harry!”
”And the DA let the Order of the Phoenix know, and it all kind of snowballed”, George adds. ”So what’s first, Harry? What’s going on?”
”Well, we’re evacuating the younger students, but everyone’s meeting in the Great Hall to get organised — we’re fighting!”
There’s a roar of excitement as most of the crowd brandish their wands and run past him out of the Room. Harry stumbles back, looking over the faces of those remaining, searching for Ron and Hermione but they don’t seem to be in the Room.
Mrs Weasley is arguing with a teary-eyed Ginny, telling her she is too young and needs to go back to the Burrow.
”I want to fight!” the sixteen-year-old girl yells. ”My whole family is here, I can’t just sit back and — and — wait —!”
”You’re under-age!” Mrs Weasley shouts back. ”I won’t permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you’ve got to go home!”
”I’m in Dumbledore’s Army —!”
”— a teenager’s group —!”
”A teenager’s group that’s about to take him on, which no-one else has dared to do!” Fred interjects.
Mrs Weasley rounds on him immediately, her teary eyes flashing dangerously, ”She is sixteen! She is not old enough! What the two of you were thinking, bringing her along —!”
Fred and George seem to deflate slightly at that, looking more ashamed of themselves than Harry has ever seen them.
A scuffling sound and a great thump of someone clambering through the passageway to the Hog’s Head and falling clumsily to the floor interrupts the argument and everyone turns around to stare as the young man pulls himself up and righten his horn-rimmed glasses and gasps, ”Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I — I —”
Percy splutters into silence, staring in shock at the rest of his family, clearly not prepared to come face to face with the entire Weasley clan so suddenly. A moment’s shocked silence trickles past, then Fleur turns to Lupin suddenly, ”So — ’ow is little Teddy?”
Lupin blinks at her in confusion, but when the silence between the Weasleys seem to solidify, he blinks rapidly and says loudly, ”I — oh! — yes, he’s fine! Tonks is with him now, at her mother’s!”
Percy and the other Weasleys keep staring at each other.
”Here, I’ve got a picture!” Lupin shouts and pulls a photograph of a blue-haired toddler out of his wallet and shows it to Fleur and Harry.
”I was a fool!” Percy wails suddenly and Lupin nearly drops the photograph. ”I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a — a — ”
”Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron”, Fred says swiftly.
Percy blinks, taken aback — then swallows thickly and nods, ”Yes. Yes, I was.”
”Well”, George says simply. ”You can’t say fairer than that!”
He walks up to Percy and claps him on the shoulder. Percy seems even more taken aback by this. He gingerly reaches out and puts a hesitant arm around his brother, who throws his twin a glance that Harry can’t really interpret before returning the embrace. Fred joins them and puts his arm around them both in a big, three-way hug.
A strangled sob rings out in the silence and the three of them immediately spring apart again. Mrs Weasley, who is now crying openly, elbows the twins out of the way and envelop Percy in a crushing hug. Percy smiles shakily and returns it, eyeing Mr Weasley warily over his mother’s shoulder, ”I’m sorry, Dad…”
Mr Weasley seems to shake himself out of his stunned state and swiftly walks over and hugs his son as well.
”What made you finally see sense, Perce?” George asks curiously.
Percy tells them that he’s been wanting to leave the Ministry for ages, but it’s been difficult with so-called traitors being imprisoned every day, but that he finally got in touch with Aberforth and that it was him that tipped him off ten minutes ago that Hogwarts was about to make a fight of it, ”So here I am!”
”Well, we do look to our Prefects to take the lead at times such as these”, George says in a good imitation of Percy’s usual pompous manner and grins good-naturedly at him. ”Now, let’s get upstairs and fight, before all the good Death Eaters are taken!”
As most of the Weasley clan leave, Harry turns to Ginny and asks her where Ron and Hermione have got to.
”They said something about a bathroom, not long after you left”, she says and shrugs.
Harry frowns; a bathroom? He walks out of the Room of Requirement and enters the nearest bathroom, but it’s empty.
His scar sears in pain again and the mint green tiles swim before his eyes before vanishing completely; instead he’s looking through familiar wrought-iron gates with winged boars on pillars on either side, the dark silhouette of Hogwarts clearly visible against the starry sky. Nagini is a comforting weight on his shoulders, and in his heart lies a similar weight that is just as comforting: the cold determination that usually preceeds murder…
Harry forces his mind closed once more; he is beyond fright now, beyond panic — Severus is gone, so he needs to find the only other people who know about his quest, Ron and Hermione, that’s all he can think about — I need to find Ron and Hermione…
He follows the others to the Great Hall; its enchanted ceiling unusually dark and peppered with stars, yet every seat along the four House tables were occupied by dishevelled students, some wearing travelling cloaks already while others were still dressed in their sleep wear… Harry ignores the stares and whispers as he makes his way further into the Hall, tuning out McGonagall’s instructions as he scans the Gryffindor table for any hint of red hair or frizzy brown…
”—evacuation will be overseen by Mr Filch and Madam Pomfrey”, McGonagall says. ”Prefects, when I give the word, you will organise your house and take them to the evacuation point.”
”And what if we want to stay and fight?” Ernia Macmillan shouts, standing up from his seat at the Hufflepuff table and there is a smattering of applause and murmured approval around him.
”If you are of age, you may stay”, McGonagall says. ”We have already placed protection around the castle, but it is unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it, so I must ask you to move quickly and calmly, and do as your Prefects —”
Her final words are drowned as another, colder disembodied voice suddenly echoes throughout the Hall: ”I know you are preparing to fight…”
There are terrified screams amongst the students, some of which cling to each other for comfort, others who pull their wands out of their pockets with shaky but determined hands as they look around for the soource of the voice.
”Your efforts are futile”, Voldemort continues calmly. ”You cannot fight me. But I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teacher sof Hogwarts, and I do not wish to spill magical blood… Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you shall be rewarded… You have until midnight.”
The silence seems to thicken and vibrate as the voice fades. Every head in the Great Hall turns to pin Harry with their startled eyes. Then a figure risis slowly from the Slytherin table and Harry immediately recognises Pansy Parkinson, although she looks a lot paler and unkempt than the last time he saw her, and he steels himself as she lifts a trembling arm and points a finger at him, ”But he’s there! Potter is right there! Someone grab him —!”
Before Harry can so much as open his mouth to speak, there is an uproar of noise and movement all around him as the entire Gryffindor side of the Great Hall stands as one person and faces — not Harry, but Pansy — and a split-second later, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw follows suit, pointing their wands at a stricken Pansy Parkinson who looks around her in terror.
”Thank you, Miss Parkinson”, McGonagall says curtly. ”You may leave the Hall first with Mr Filch, and then the rest of you house may follow —”
There’s a disjointed smattering of applause and cheer from the other houses as the Slytherins troop out of the Hall after Mr Filch and Mrs Norris.
”Ravenclaw, follow on!” McGonagall instructs in a loud voice.
Harry hurries over to where the Weasleys are sat at the Gryffindor table and asks them again if they’ve seen Ron or Hermione.
”Haven’t you found —?” Mr Weasley says, starting to look worried, but breaks off as Kingsley approaches to pass on the battle plan agreed upon.
”Potter!” McGonagall says, startling Harry and he meets her halfway as she comes striding down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. ”Aren’t you supposed to be looking for something?”
”Right — yeah —” he mumbles and turns around and runs out of the Hall again, his mind whirring desperately, trying to think, but he can’t seem to focus — where are Ron and Hermione? — he gets the Map out and looks for them, but they seem to have vanished from the castle; so maybe they’re back in the Room of Requirement? — he taps the Map and tucks in back into his pocket… Think, he tells himself.
Voldemort thought I’d go to Ravenclaw Tower, he realises suddenly — He’d stationed Alecto Carrow in Ravenclaw Tower in case Harry would show up, in Ravenclaw Tower, nowhere else in the castle — and there it is: a solid fact, a place to start! — Harry feels his heart leap; okay, so we’re definitely on the right track… but what object of Ravenclaw could it be, if not the diadem? or, if it is the diadem, how is it possible for Voldemort, a Slytherin, to have found it when generations of Ravenclaws have failed to aquire it?
And who can help Harry find it now, if no-one in living memory has seen it?
Living memory, he thinks. Oh that’s it!
Harry turns on his heel and starts running back down the corridor, shouldering past the crowd of students marching towards the Room of Requirement to be evacuated, he hurtles round a corner, he spots the familiar pearly-white shape of Sir Nicholas —
”Nick! NICK! I need to talk to you —!” he bellows without slowing down his pace.
Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, stops soaring and stays hovering in mid-air until Harry thunders to a stop right underneath him.
”Harry! My dear boy!” he greets jovially.
”Nick, you’ve got to help me… Who’s the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”
Nearly Headless Nick pulls back in surprise and splutters a little, eemingly offended, ”Well, The Grey Lady, of course! But if it is ghostly services you require —”
”No, it’s got to be her”, Harry interrupts. ”Please, do you know where she is?”
”Well, that’s her over there, Harry — the young woman with the long hair, see —?”
Harry whirls around and spots a tall, slender ghost who — sensing Harry’s attention — raises her eyebrows delicately and then proceeds to drift away through the nearest solid wall. Harry swears silently to himself and runs after her.
”Hey — wait — come back!” he yells as he tears through the doorway to the corridor into which she disappeared.
He catches sight of her in the opposite end of the corridor, where she floats in mid-air for a moment, eyeing him suspisciously and as he comes to a thundering halt next to her, catching his breath noisily, she seems to draw herself up and for a moment she reminds him of Narcissa Malfoy, except more beautiful with her waist-long hair and soft features…
”Please”, he wheezes, and she seems to solidify slightly. ”You’re the Grey Lady? The ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?”
”That is correct”, she replies coolly.
”Please, I need some help. I need to know anything you can tell me about the lost diadem.”
A cold smile curves the ghost’s lips, and it definitely does not reach her heavy-lidded eyes, ”I am afraid I cannot help you…”
”WAIT!” he screams as she turns to leave. ”This is urgent! If that diadem is at Hogwarts, I’ve got to find it and fast!”
”You are hardly the first student to badger me about the diadem”, she says.
”This isn’t about trying to get better marks, or — or — glory! It’s about defeating Voldemort! If you care about that —!”
”Well, of course I — how dare you even suggest —!” she splutters, clearly ruffled for the first time.
”Good!” he cuts her off. ”So, help me!”
”I — It’s not — my mother’s diadem —”
”Your mother’s?” Harry says in surprise.
”When I lived, I was Helena Ravenclaw”, she says stiffly. ”And while the diadem bestows wisdom, I hardly think it will assist you in your quest to defeat the wizard who calls himself Lord —”
”I don’t want to wear it!” Harry says impatiently. ”I want ot destroy it!”
The ghost gazes at him silently for a moment that seems to stretch out and grow into minutes, hours; but Harry doesn’t say anything else, he barely dares to breathe, certain that the slightest movement or noise will break the resolve that he can see building in the dead woman’s eyes…
Finally, she draws herself up, as if taking a deep breath, and she starts telling him her story; Harry merely blinks, mind racing to keep up with her tale, as she confesses to stealing her mother’s diadem and running away… and the Baron — the Bloody Baron, Slytherin House’s ghost — tracked her down and when she refused to come back to Hogwarts with him, in a fit of rage, he stabbed her to death…
At this point, The Grey Lady lifts aside the cloak she’s wearing to reveal a dark stab wound in her pearly-white chest, ”And overcome with remorse over what he’d done, the Baron turned his weapon upon himself… All these centuries later, he still wears his chains as an act of penitence — as well he should —!”
”And… and the diadem?” Harry asks carefully.
”It remained where I’d hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest towards me, concealed inside a hollow tree.”
”A hollow tree? What tree? Where was this?”
”A forest in Albania”, she intones, and Harry feels a sudden jolt; Albania!
How many times haven’t he and Hermione, and later Ron as well, discussed whether or not they ought to travel to Albania —!
But then, with another jolt, Harry realises that that would have been a wasted trip, because someone else had already made it, years earlier…
”You’ve already told someone this story, haven’t you?” he asks the ghost. ”Another student?”
She closes her eyes and a look of pain settles on her beautiful face.
”I had no idea… He was… flattering. He seemed to — to understand, to sympathise…”
Yes, Harry thinks grimly. Tom Riddle had indeed been a charming young man, and handsome too…
Harry can easily imagine him flattering the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw, manipulating her into giving away her most guarded secret… And once he got his hands on the diadem, he wouldn’t have left it in the tree, no, he’d have brought it back to Hogwarts —
”—the night he came and asked Dumbledore for a job!” Harry exclaims aloud, finishing his thought.
”Excuse me?” the ghost says.
”He hid the diadem in the castle, that time he came to apply for the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts, either on his way up to or down from Dumbledore’s office! It all makes sense! — Oh, thank you, thanks a lot for your help —!” Harry shouts over his shoulder as he starts running back the same way he came.
*
Harry runs aimlessly, as his thoughts tumble around inside his head — and Voldemort’s thoughts swirl around the outskirts — but as he thunder to a stop next to the painting of the ballet-dancing trolls, the answer comes to him suddenly like a slap in the face; The Room of Requirement!
”Harry —!”
He whirls around and is met by the sight of Ron and Hermione sprinting up the corridor, arms full of weird, yellowy objects and grinning like maniacs.
”Where the hell have you been —?” he hollers angrily.
”Chamber of Secrets!” Ron says simply as they come to a halt in front of him.
”Chamber of — what —?”
”It was all Ron’s idea”, Hermione says breathlessly, beaming at Ron. ”There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn’t got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!”
Harry looks down at the yellowy things and realises with a pang that they’re fangs, basilisk fangs…
”But — how did you get in?” he says, looking up at Ron in amazement. ”You need to speak Parseltongue!”
”He did!” Hermione says excitedly. ”Show him, Ron!”
Ron makes a horrible, strangled hissing noise and Harry flinches; is that what I sound I like?
”It’s what you did to open the locket — I heard you”, Ron says a little sheepishly. ”I had to have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end!”
”Brilliant”, Harry says, feeling a swell of pride and affection for his best friend. ”That’s brilliant, Ron!”
”He was amazing”, Hermione agrees, and Ron’s face goes beet red immediately.
”So we’re another Horcrux down”, he says in a loud voice, too casual to be casual, and pulls a mangled cup from his pocket. ”Hermoine destroyed it… and what’s new with you?”
”I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it’s hidden!” Harry says quickly. ”He hid it where I hid the Potions book, where people have been hiding stuff for centuries, and I’ve seen it, I’ve just realised, I’ve even touched it — Come on!”
They enter the Room of Requirement, now empty save for Ginny who have been forbidden to partake in the battle, and two other women: Tonks and an elderly witch wearing a moth-eaten hat with a stuffed vulture on top of it —
”Ah, Potter”, Neville’s grandmother says immediately. ”You can tell us what’s going on!”
”Are there still people in the passage to the Hog’s Head?” Harry asks, knowing the Room won’t transform until it’s been completely emptied.
”I was the last to come through”, Mrs Longbottom says. ”And I sealed it — I think it’s unwise to leave it open now Aberforth has left the pub. Have you seen my grandson?”
”He’s fighting”, Harry says.
”Naturally”, she says and seems to swell with pride. ”Well, if you’ll excuse me, I must go and assist him…”
With surprising speed for her age, Mrs Longbottom strides across the Room and disappears out the door. Tonks follows her after Harry has confirmed Lupin’s whereabouts. Harry turns to Ginny who looks hopefully at him.
”Ginny, we need you to leave the Room as well. Just for a bit, then you can come back, all right?”
An unreadable expression passes over the girl’s face, but then she nods and runs out of the room with an air of someone who has been set free, ”Then you have to come back!” Harry yells after her, imagining Mrs Weasley’s reaction if she were to find out that Harry allowed her little girl to leave the safety of the Room and join in the fighting.
”Hang on, we’ve forgotten someone!” Ron says suddenly. ”The house-elves! They’ll all be in the kitchens still, won’t they?”
”And what, you think we should get them all fighting for us —?” Harry asks.
”No”, Ron says seriously. ”I mean we should tell them to get out. We don’t want any more Dobbys, do we? We can’t order them to die for us —”
There is a sudden clatter as all the Basilisk fangs in Hermione’s arms fall to the ground and before either boy has had a chance to react, she has flung her arms around Ron and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron dropped his own Basilisk fangs and responded enthusiastically.
”Really?” Harry says weakly. ”Now?”
Ron and Hermione doesn’t seem to hear him. They clutch at each other desperately and deepen their kiss. Harry winces when a particularly loud slurping noise sounds.
”Oi, there’s a war going on here!” he says a little louder.
Ron and Hermione spring apart with another slurp and he grimaces wrily as Ron beams at him, ”I know, mate, so it’s now or never, innit?”
”Yeah, well, d’you think you could at least hold it in until we’ve got the diadem?”
”Yeah — right — sorry”, Ron mumbles.
Ron and Hermione gather up the Basilisk fangs again, both rather pink in the face but still smiling shyly at each other. Harry ushers them impatiently out of the Room, then waits for the doors to melt into the wall and disappearing before he starts running along the length of the wall, thinking furiously, ”I need the place where everything is hidden”
On the third run the doors re-materialise in front of their eyes and Harry wrenches them open again.
The Room is now the size of a giant cathedral, with the appearance of a small city with its towering walls built of thousands of hidden objects accumulated over the centuries.
Harry starts walking down an aisle to his right, spotting the stuffed troll and the Vanishing Cabinet that Malfoy had been mending last year… Then he hesitates, looking up and down the aisles that branch out on either side of the Cabinet, trying to remember where he’d gone next…
”Accio diadem”, Hermione says hopefully, but nothing happens.
”Okay”, Harry says, thinking fast. ”Okay — let’s just spread out, it should be here somewhere — just look for a stone bust of an old man wearing a wig and a tiara, all right? It’s on top of a cupboard —”
They speed off in different, adjacent aisles; Harry scans the junk on either side of him, somewhere here… somewhere… He moves deeper and deeper into the Room, trying to spot anything that he remembers from last time…
There! Harry’s breath hitches as he finally spots it: the bust of the warlock still wearing the dusty old wig that Hary had placed on it a year ago, and on top of the wig, the diadem…
Harry jogs the remaining few steps until he’s standing right next to the cupboard and he’s stretching out his arm, reaching for the diadem, when a voice behind him suddenly says, ”Hold it, Potter!”
Harry wheels around. Crabbe and Goyle are standing shoulder to shoulder right behind him, wands pointing at Harry’s chest, and through a small space between their jeering faces, he can catch a glimpse of Draco Malfoy’s pale, drawn face staring solemnly at him and pointing a wand as well.
”That’s my wand you’re holding, Potter”, Malfoy says quietly.
Harry’s heart leaps into his throat as he stares at the Slytherin boys. No, this isn’t happening… this is not happening, he thinks wildly. To have come this close, only to be thwarted by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle…
”Finder’s keepers”, he tells Malfoy, tightening his grip on the hawthorn wand and he’s glad to hear his voice is steady. ”Who’s lent you that one then?”
”My mother”, Malfoy murmurs.
Harry laughs, but it’s a hollow sound — he can only hope that Ron or Hermione will hear him.
”So how come you lot aren’t with Voldemort?” he asks, stalling for time.
”We’re gonna be rewarded”, Crabbe says with a slightly deranged grin, and Harry is struck by the softness of his voice, realising he’s hardly heard the boy speak before. ”We hung back, see. Decided not to go. Decided to bring you to ’im.”
”Good plan”, Harry says, mouth going dry and heart hammering somewhere in his throat. ”So had did you get in here?”
”I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things last year”, Malfoy says and Harry catches a haunted look flit across his face. ”I know how to get in…”
”Right”, he says.
”We was hidin’ in the corridor outside”, Goyle grunts. ”We can do Diss-lusion Charms now. And then you turned up right in front of us and said you were looking for a die-dum! What’s a die-dum anyway?”
”Harry?” Ron’s voice floats over the nearest wall of stacked objects and Harry’s heart skips a beat. ”Are you talking to someone?”
Crabbe whips his wand around and points it to the wall, ”Descendo!”
The wall begins to totter, then crumbles into the next aisle and Harry can hear a scream, ”RON!” he bellows, then pointing his own wand at the wall he quickly shouts a Finite and the remaining furniture and other objects steady immediately.
”No!” Malfoy shouts suddenly, and Harry whirls back around to see him grabbing Crabbe’s wand arm, trying to force it back down. ”If you wreck the room, you might bury this diadem thing!”
”Who cares?” Crabbe snarls and shoves Malfoy hard in the chest, and the blonde staggers back a step looking shocked that one of his cronies would talk back to him, and worse, lay a hand on him. ”It’s Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about this stupid die-dum!”
”Potter came in here to get it”, Malfoy tries to explain with ill-concealed impatience, glancing warily at the bigger boy’s hands as if worried he might get another shove. ”So that must mean —”
”’That must mean’”, Crabbe mimicks. ”Who cares what you think, anyway! I don’t take orders no more, Draco — you and your dad are both finished!”
”Harry!” Ron shouts from the other side of the wall. ”What’s going on —?”
Crabbe starts to snicker, then chokes as Harry makes a lunge for the stone bust, ”No! Crucio —!”
The curse narrowly misses Harry and hits the stone bust instead; the diadem soars upwards and then drops out of sight.
”STOP!” Malfoy shouts shrilly. ”The Dark Lord wants him alive —!”
”So? I’m not killing him, am I”, Crabbe roars back, throwing off Malfoy’s restraining arm for a second time and wheels around to punch him, but Malfoy quickly scrambles backwards, out of reach. ”But if I can, I will — The Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, so what’s the diff —”
Crabbe is suddenly cut off as Malfoy grabs his shirt front and pulls with all his strentgh, sending them both crashing to the floor and thus avoiding the jet of scarlet light aimed at Crabbe’s head, Harry wheels around and sees Hermione hurtle around the corner, wand held aloft, another Stunning Spell on the tip of her tongue —
”It’s the Mudblood!” Crabbe roars furiously, scrambling away from Malfoy and getting up on his feet again. ”Avada Kedavra!”
Hermione dives aside and the Killing Curse misses her, Harry stares at Crabbe in shock and fury; he actually tried to kill her! — Malfoy who is still sprawled on the floor at Crabbe’s feet is staring up at the other boy with a similar look of shock on his face, like he can’t believe his friend had just cast the Killing Curse and hadn’t even hesitated — but Harry barely notices, his entire focus is on Crabbe, who is already opening his mouth to cast another curse…
Harry sends a Stunning Spell at him, but he lurches out of the way, kicking Malfoy and accidentally sending his wand flying out of his hand; it rolls out of sight and Malfoy looks torn between going after it or his incensed friend —
”Don’t kill him! DON’T KILL HIM!” he yells hysterically as both Crabbe and Goyle aim their wands at Harry’s heart, and throws himself at them.
”Expelliarmus!” Harry shouts and Goyle’s wand goes flying out of his hand.
Malfoy dives to the floor again and cowers behind a three-legged wardrobe as Hermione sends another Stunning Spell at them, that hits Goyle instead and the boy crashes to the floor with a crunching sound. Malfoy reaches out and clasps the boy’s robes and pulls desperately, trying to drag him out of harm’s way.
Ron comes pelting round the corner and sends a full Body-Binding Curse at Crabbe that narrowly misses him. He who wheels around, red in the face and spitting in anger as he snarls ”Avada Kedavra!” for a second time, but Ron leaps out of sight and the jet of green light hits an old chest of drawers instead.
”HARRY!” Hermione screams.
A roaring, billowing noise behind him is the only warning he gets before both Ron and Crabbe come running towards him, ”Like it hot, scum?” Crabbe shouts triumphantly.
But his triumph is short-lived, because he doesn’t seem to have any control over what he’s done; gigantic flames are pursuing them like a living thing, licking up the sides of the junk walls, leaving them crumbling to soot…
”Aguamenti!” Harry yells desperately, but to his horror the jet of water bursting out of his wand evaporates immediately.
”RUN!”
Malfoy has managed to get both arms around Goyle’s massive chest and is dragging him along, looking around wildly, his eyes desperate and tearing up; Crabbe has abandoned them both and is throwing terrified looks over his shoulder at the massive flames as she sprints ahead of them all; Harry, Ron and Hermione run as hard as they can in his wake, feeling the heat from the flames on their backs —
This is no ordinary fire, Harry realises, throwing a look over his shoulder and seeing the flames mutate into firey beings: serpents, chimaeras and dragons, all of them in pursuit… They finally lose sight of Crabbe, and come to a thundering stop; the fiery monsters have now encircled them from all sides and are steadily closing in on them —
”What can we do? What can we do?” Hermione yells.
Harry spots a couple of old broomsticks still untouched by the fire and immediately seizes them, throwing one to Ron, ”Here!”
Hermione clambers onto Ron’s broom behind him and latches on to him. They kick off the ground and soar into the air, steering away from the the snapping jaws of a flaming raptor that lunges at them; Harry scans the ground, looking for any sign of Malfoy, Crabbe or Goyle, swopping as close to the fire as he dares…
”Harry, let’s get out of here!” Ron bellows.
But Harry has heard something else as well through the roar of the fire; a pitiful, human scream… Malfoy, he thinks with a jolt.
”It’s — too — dangerous —!” Ron yells, but Harry has already turned and is speeding through the room, scanning the fire and smoke for any sign of life…
And then he sees them: Malfoy and the still stunned Goyle, perched on a very fragile-looking tower of charred desks… How Malfoy had managed to drag the unconscious lump of Goyle who was twice his own size, Harry has no idea, but he feels a twinge of — something — definitely not affection, but something… Despite obviously having fallen out with his cronies, Malfoy had risked his own life to save his old friend.
So he can’t be entirely evil, Harry thinks wryly as he dives towards them. Malfoy’s eyes flash hopefully as he sees him and he raises his arm… But it’s no good: Goyle is way too heavy, and Malfoy’s hand that’s covered in sweat immediately slips out of Harry’s —
”IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I’LL KILL YOU, HARRY!” roars Ron suddenly, barely avoiding a flaming Chimaera bearing down on them as Hermione drags Goyle onto their broom, then zoom out of sight, heading for the general direction of the door —
Malfoy clambers up behind Harry and wraps his arms tightly around Harry’s waist, screaming in his ear, ”The door, get to the door, the door!”
Harry leans forward and speeds up, following Ron, Hermione and Goyle through the billowing black smoke, barely able to breathe; all around them, the few remaining unburned objects are thrown into the air by the fiery creatures like some sort of celebration, unflammable objects like cups and shields and jewellry, and an old, discoloured tiara —
”What are you doing, what are you doing?” Malfoy screams. ”The door is that way!”
Harry swerves and dives; the diadem seems to fall in slow-motion, the fire making it glint golden, and for a split-second, Harry can almost trick himself into believing he’s back on the Quidditch pitch, diving after the Snitch… He catches the diadem around his wrist and swerves again… Malfoy is squeezing him so tightly it hurts and is still screaming, although he doesn’t seem to be screaming words anymore…
Harry dives to the side as a serpent lunges for them, then soars upwards again, heading for the diretion of the door, hoping feverishly that it’s still open —
Then he sees it, through the thick billowing black smoke, he sees a rectangular patch on the wall and steers the broom right at it — cool, clean air washes over him — in the next moment, he crashes into the wall opposite and Malfoy’s arms fall away from him as they both crumble to the floor; Harry heaves a deep breath… Next to him, Malfoy lies gasping and coughing, curled up miserably… Harry ignores him and sits up, staring at the stretch of wall where the Room of Requirement has once again vanished.
Ron and Hermione are also sitting on the floor panting, next to them lies the still unconscious Goyle.
”C- Crabbe”, Malfoy chokes out, looking up from the floor for the first time. ”C- Crabbe…”
”He’s dead”, Ron says harshly.